Global Edmonton's award-winning Trouble Shooter loves getting results for Albertans who call her for help.
Julie Matthews receives more than 10,000 calls to her hotline each year. And this year, her investigations helped return more than $110,000 to consumers.
Here's a look back at some of her success stories:
- Antony Samartino called Global News because Alberta Health wouldn't cover his bills for cancer treatments. He said his healthcare number had been cancelled in error.After our story, AHS said they would cover the bills.
- When Joyce Wilk's oven door shattered, sears told her it was a cosmetic problem and wouldn't cover it. But after Julie Matthews became involved, the company changed its mind, and announced free diagnostic inspections of Kenmore stoves for any customer with glass concerns.
- After Pleasant Homes saw the Trouble Shooter's story on a family's contractor problems, the company ended up giving them a new one at cost.
- Julie Matthews also helped two families who were in a fight with their bank after mortgage payout penalties, which jumped by thousands of dollars. Following the Trouble Shooters involvement, the families received refunds.
- Two families who had been waiting for four years for their hot air balloon ride (which had gotten cancelled numerous times because of weather delays), finally got a chance to take to the sky. In one case, another company stepped in to take a family up for their long-awaited ride.
- Edith Stodola's handyman had a change of heart after getting a call from our Trouble Shooter. He refunded some of her money, and came back to fix his shoddy workmanship.
- While Oriel Edwards' moving company never did return her $3,000 dollar deposit, an Edmonton business was so touched by her story that it gave her $1,000 dollars.
- Anne Dunnett turned to the Trouble Shooter after her walk was destroyed during some careless handling. And it paid off. After a call from Julie Matthews, the Edmonton cab company wrote Dunnett a cheque.
Last year, the Trouble Shooter's investigations returned $70,000 dollars to consumers.
With files from Julie Matthews, Global News
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.